


Steve DeKnight Q&A and Splinter Commentary

by yourlibrarian



Series: Convention Write Ups [5]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Author Commentary, Conventions, Episode s05e07 Splinter, Gen, Nonfiction, Transcribed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-19 07:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29870988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: Panels at the James Marsters Con at the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
Series: Convention Write Ups [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2196066
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Steve DeKnight Q&A and Splinter Commentary

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted September 14, 2006

On Sunday Steve did a second, shorter, Q&A, after which he did a commentary on "Splinter" with the Smallville producers. I thought they were remarkably candid about the show, though I didn't take as many notes for that or their post-commentary Q&A. Here's the rundown on that.

In "Seeing Red", how aware were writers of the controversy of the AR and how much consideration was given for what it would put the actors through? Steve said at the time he was an executive story editor so he didn't have a lot of say in terms of story direction. Marti made the decision, and being a woman he felt more comfortable following orders on that one. He was on set when it was shot and it was very tough, particularly for Sarah.

How did he end up on Buffy and could he say more about the spec script he wrote for it? He had worked on MTV "Undressed"(?) and it was a sweat shop for writers. At the time he had an agent who was working out of her bathtub and he wanted a better job and agent. BtVS was his favorite show, so he wrote a spec dealing with the slayer mythos, where Xander becomes a slayer and showing why it is women, not men, who are chosen. Basically men had it go to their head and weren't as effective. His script attracted attention for the Animated series planned at the time. Joss then called, and they met to talk about movies and comics. Joss asked him if he wanted to do a freelance script for "Blood Ties." He was then invited to a production meeting, toured the set and Joss told him he was hired for the staff.

Asked about partnering with other writers he said he usually did it because of time pressures, where to get things done someone else needs to do part of it. He did so with Goddard, basically splitting the script so that each did half, but not consulting with one another during the process. He writes alone. On Smallville he was asked to work with someone else and was put off when asked to go to their office and work on the script together, he's not used to doing things that way.

Asked who were tougher, Buffy or Smallville fans, he said it depends more on the time of day you're online. Online people are harsh in a way that most people wouldn't be if they had to deal with one another face to face. Of course they (staff) also get a lot of support and love which is why he was at the con this weekend.

How closely does a writer have to follow the story outline? Depends on the writer's level on the show. The most important thing was to make the script work, not to change really big stuff, but otherwise you're partly free to improvise.

Which hat does he prefer wearing, staff writer, producer? They're all fine he just doesn't want to do only one, just producing or just writing can be a grind.

Does he prefer episodic or procedural writing? Doug Petrie is on CSI, he'd love to ask him how he feels about it, it's so different. Both are fun, either episodic or major arcs.

Has he ever written anything he didn't like? "So many things." At the end of the day he hates stuff because he doesn't like the story or he's not writing well or something was not what he intended. We "beat ourselves up all the time."

Next was my question, which I had originally submitted for James. Given he knew both Noah Wyle and Nick Brendon I figured he might have something interesting to say, but I changed it to Steve instead since James had too many questions. I'm afraid he punted. In retrospect Fury would have probably given a great answer but his Q&A was cancelled.

"This isn't a writing question, it's a chance to discuss your cast knowledge --"

"Oh, I was thinking it was going to be a personal question."

"No, about the cast. Noah Wyle recently purchased Nick Brendon at a charity auction for 13 hours of anything Noah wanted him to do --"

"Did I hear that right?"

"Yes," I re-read the first sentence. "Nick went for $1000. Do you feel Noah got market value and what would be your advice as to what Nick should be set to work doing?"

I was actually thinking the respondent might answer with some discussion of things NB was good at that we didn't know about, but I think Steve was spooked.

"Man, that's quite a question," he stalled. "Well, nobody wants to go for just a grand, uh...maybe start with some yard work, I'd move on to a firm massage myself. But I think they'll just be sitting around drinking beer."

It was only later that I wondered if NB would actually be drinking beer anymore but I think Steve just really wanted to get the question over with.

I missed what the next question was about but it had to do with Spike's chip. Steve noted that Spike discovered the only person he could hurt, was the person he loved. I thought that was interesting. I hadn't really considered that before, it made me rethink the dialogue in the Dead Things alley scene.

Do the writers goof off more on Joss shows or on Smallville? They all wasted time on Joss' shows. Asked which of the Troika he actually wrote the most dialogue for, he said it was a split between Jonathan and Andrew, especially in "Dead Things." He was asked about the Mad TV sendup of "Lost" and was told "It's almost as good as 'Lost'." Steve said he hadn't seen it but he would tell Fury.

Asked about why there weren't more genre shows, he said he loved genre, but when it comes to pilot season the question is what could run 5-7 seasons? The network and studio are the ones concerned about audience skew.

Braniac was a conglomeration of the mythos, the animated series and their own touches.

**Splinter Commentary**

No video problems on Sunday, everything ran smoothly. If you haven't seen the episode this may not make as much sense, as I just jotted down comments that struck me. Also, I couldn't tell which was Al or Miles's comment so I'll call them PR.

Steve joked that with all the auto accidents in Smallville they should have an episode where an insurance adjustor comes to town and declares the whole place uninsurable.

When someone pulled out a cell phone someone joked "Get me a product placement."

PR noted that Steve was credited for 6 episodes and worked on 10. "Season 5 courtesy of Steve DeKnight."

James was the only choice for the role of Braniac. "He needed intelligence, intensity and acting chops." They wouldn't have done the character if he hadn't signed on. They talked to Himber to gauge interest, then had dinner with James and pitched the arc. He really liked having an idea of where the character was going as opposed to his work for Joss. The cast loved working with him, "he raises everybody's game with every scene he's in" especially Rosenbaum's. Besides his acting chops he's an actor who is great on set, and throws himself into his work.

They modeled their Daily Planet set after they went to Australia and saw the set for the film. Loved using it now, it's so attractive they keep putting more scenes in it.

The show is filled with characters who are all liars, although at least Lex puts his cards on the table sooner than Clark.

They regret James and Glover didn't get scenes together, their one regret.

Tom Welling has grown as an actor, he used to be a model. In the pilot it took 14 takes to get a reaction right when Lex asked him if he believed a man could fly. James got good reactions from Tom.

Red kryptonite episode was praised by Partnership for a Drug Free America, "Stay off the Red K, kids." And they got some environmental nod for the Aquaman episode. "Saving the world, one episode at a time."

Rosenbaum is convinced his make-up is poisoning him.

They all ragged on the dorm room set and Lana's sweater, said they'd gotten a complaint from the network about Chloe's cleavage and joked about the size of her brooch. "Green Lantern gave it to her." "Everyone gets kryptonite in a box in Smallville."

They joked about always having fire in love scenes, setting the mood with more candles than in St. Patrick's cathedral. Welling looks good wet, SDK: "He looks really hot wet, they used that for the promos."

In the episode where Lionel and Clark switch bodies, Glover found it very difficult to play Clark. There were no mannerisms, a lot of stillness, it gave him new respect for what Tom had to do.

Joked about the stupidity of Lana running to the basement rather than the front door. They talked about how using Clark's super hearing is cheaper than x-ray vision and they've done less of it with each season.

When Braniac removes the splinter from Clark they joked about the "Kryptonite breast pump. 'I'm going to milk you!'" SDK said it wasn't what he'd had in mind when he wrote the device in. "Yeah, there are no homoerotic overtones to this show."

Said the hospital set had grown so much you could shoot ER in it. Asked about the hospital coda, PR said "What's your thinking? How many pretty people can I put in one scene?" SDK said there was a "zone of beauty" on the show and no matter how messed up someone is they can't do bad eyes or other gross make-up for injuries. They also got some complaints about the Amnesty International logo in the hospital (why would it be there, actually, in a hospital?) and SDK asked "From who? Did the Nazi Party complain about it?" They stuck to their guns and it's still there.

Joked about the subtle psychological torture of Lex by Lionel who has this massive mane of hair. They said the network wanted Clark's (and all other) parents to be non-existent on the show because it would "be cooler that way." Pa Kent was the role Schneider was born to play.

As they watched the last scene with Fine and Clark in the loft SDK said it was such a pleasure to write for James again "he can do anything", and to put words in his mouth. "I've got the man love going on here." JM also good looking.

As credits rolled they talked about further episodes that season and how someone at the network commented on "Hypnotic" that "That girl was SO hot, and I completely believed I was in Honduras."

Producer Q&A

I gathered that Al and Miles had no submitted questions, so the MC did an interview with them on stage. I think this worked quite well and, allowing for questions from the audience. I think it would be a good way to go with more minor con guests who people don't know much about. They talked the full hour and for anyone interested in Smallville I think it would have been very interesting stuff. I've seen very little of it though as I really don't like what they've done with it, but I have some notes from it.

"My sister and my gay brother watched Wonder Woman, I didn't." Hmm. When asked about comics neither mentioned any female superheroes. Apparently they were going to do a Nancy Drew series before they were approached for doing Smallville. "Lois & Clark" had started well but was horrible by S4. They wanted to make their show different from other series.

James had a huge genre following from BtVS, were they aware that fanfic writers for it watched both shows? Actually they always thought there was resentment from BtVS fans because Smallville had taken its slot when the WB cancelled it and it was picked up by UPN (their terms, not mine). Was the fan following a drawback? James is underrated in Hollywood. He has a great laser-focus, thoughtful, cerebral guy in real life. Rosenbaum was intimidated by him. In real life "He's more like Dane Cook than Lex Luthor."

Regarding the L.A. Times article on the film, "Is Superman Gay?" they said "We were offended we weren't mentioned" as having far more homoeroticism in their show. They thought it was a gay teen show, mentioned the Matthew Sheppard parallel in the pilot. Discussed the Lex & Fine pool scene and said it was a "very Thomas Crown Affair with two men." They really don't know what to do with the Lana character.


End file.
